Team Malaysia

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Business-savvy Bach to lead charge for Olympic changes

Thomas
Bach of Germany (R) poses with his wife Claudia after he was elected
the ninth president of the IOC during a vote in Buenos Aires, September
10, 2013. REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - New International Olympic
President (IOC) Thomas Bach may not seem like a revolutionary choice to
lead the world's biggest sports organisation but the experienced German
is set to quickly push through changes that will alter the Games.

The
59-year-old Olympic fencing champion and lawyer swept past five rivals
to clinch the elections with a clear majority in the second round,
confirming the 119-year-old body was ready to appoint a business-savvy
leader to manage its multi-billion dollar potential.

With
excellent connections in the world of business and politics, Bach was
long seen as the natural choice to succeed Belgian surgeon Jacques Rogge
who methodically ran a tight ship following IOC corruption scandals and
the global economic downturn.

"I know of the great responsibility of being IOC president. This makes me humble," Bach said after the vote.

"I
want to lead according to my motto: 'unity in diversity'. This means I
will do my very best to balance all the different interests of
stakeholders of the Olympic movement."
Bach has also pledged to
take a close look a the size, cost and sustainability of the Games,
offering to make the bidding process more attractive to cities and usher
in more than the present limit of just 28 sports.

MORE SPORTS
While
Rogge sought to contain the size and cost of the biggest multi-sports
event by capping the number of athletes, sports and medals, Bach is more
flexible.

"We should definitely keep the limits on number of
athletes and establish a limit on number of permanent facilities," Bach
told Reuters in an interview last month. "With this framework we could
gain good flexibility with regard to the programme."

"The number of sports, there we can be more flexible."
Bringing
more sports will still need to be approved by the IOC but it represents
a U-turn from Rogge's strict policy of one sport replacing another to
keep to the limit.

Adding sports would refresh the Olympic
programme much faster, especially after the IOC's failed effort to
change the programme for the 2020 Games two days ago.

After
cutting wrestling in February, the sport made a triumphant return at the
expense of squash and baseball/softball, highlighting the inherent
problems with the current system as no new sport was added to the
Olympics after years of planning.

Bach has also expressed an
interest in making bidding for the Games attractive to more cities,
relaxing some of the guidelines and reducing the cost of campaigning to
host the Games that now can reach almost $100 million.

Only three cities - Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo, which on September 7 was awarded the Olympics - bid for the 2020 Games.

"Maybe we are asking too much of them," Bach said.
"We
must ensure that organising the Games is attractive and feasible for as
many cities and countries as possible. In this respect we may have to
reconsider the bidding procedure to make it more encouraging while
ensuring operational excellence."

An efficient operator with
hands-on experience in major businesses, starting his career as an
executive at sports equipment manufacturer adidas, Bach has also set his
sights on developing an Olympics-dedicated broadcaster using the
resources and material within the IOC.

"Having already the
production company in hand we need a discussion with our TV partners,
with the international federations about how we can get more Olympic
sports in the period between the Games on the screen," he said.

"This
is a vision, this is nothing you can manage in one two three, in four
or five years," said Bach. "But as our Chinese friends say every long
journey starts with the first step and it is time to undertake this
first step."